Grove saved, but forest razed

Posted: Tuesday, June 25, 2002

By Joan Stroerjstroer@onlineathens.com

To save a grove of rare chestnut trees at the University of Georgia, planners shifted the route of an access road leading to the future site of a 124,000-square-foot research building near the North Oconee River.

The bad news is contractors left few other trees standing when clearing land for the new Complex Carbohydrate Research Center and its parking lot, part of a 252-acre riverside research village planned for UGA's East Campus, campus officials said Monday.

The construction site is located in one of the ''more significant'' green areas left on the university's main campus, said Dexter Adams, manager of the UGA grounds department.

Construction workers working for the private UGA Real Estate Foundation wound up cutting 8 to 10 acres of native oaks, maples and other trees, said Kevin Kirsche, a landscape designer with the UGA Facilities Planning Office, which designed the park.

He blamed the steep terrain, which made it too difficult for crews to navigate without cutting most of the trees.

To save the chestnut trees, a classroom building was shifted elsewhere in the park's master plan.

''We had a finite land area,'' Kirsche said. ''As much as we tried, a good number of the trees went down. ... I'm disappointed.''

Once the building is finished, the goal is to reforest the surrounding clearcut areas with native shade trees and an understory of shrubs and plant life, Adams said. There's also plans for a walking path and a 100-foot greenspace buffer along the river. ''The idea is to recreate a forest,'' Adams said.

The new center, the second of several buildings planned for the riverside research park, will be built over the next 18 months off Riverbend Road.

Last year, UGA facilities planners highlighted the ''stunning'' natural setting when they announced plans for the village.

The first phase of the research village includes the CCRC building and the Center for Applied Genetics and Technology, along with a state-funded Animal and Human Vaccine Development Building and a new home for University Computing and Networking Services.

The construction is part of larger plan of campus development, which includes more research-oriented buildings. Monday, Kirsche said future projects for the village will have much less impact than the CCRC building, though future research buildings tentatively included in the park's master plan could also impact trees along the river.